


Loodles

by FunkyWashingMachine



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Cute, Drugs, Gen, Humor, POV Second Person, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 18:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyWashingMachine/pseuds/FunkyWashingMachine
Summary: Ghost drunk-sits Cornifer





	Loodles

You've heard this sort of happy chatter before. Though maybe it sounds a bit happier than usual.

When you round the corner you see Cornifer and his pile of maps. Surprising? Probably not.

"Loodles everywhere," Cornifer giggles, looking at nothing.

You step closer and he looks at you.

"Well, hello, loodle one," he says. Then he laughs. A lot harder than you're laughing. "Oh, it's so good to see you. I have the greatest map to sell you!"

He seems a little off, doesn't he?

"My little friend," Cornifer says, gesturing widely and looking sort of past you, "this is such a revolutionary map that I can't sell it to you for less than four hundred Geo. The expertise that's gone into it is unlike anything you've ever seen."

There's probably other stuff you could spend four hundred Geo on. But you could also spend four hundred Geo on a map. And for some reason Cornifer is particularly excited about this one.

You nod to him and hold out your Geo.

But are you surprised when it's the worst map you've ever seen?

It doesn't even look like a map. It looks like something that's TRYING to be a map, covered in scribbles and a few things that look like they're TRYING to be words.

There is no room to edit this map.

You look back up at Cornifer.

"Impressive, isn't it?" he sways. "It's a collaboration between me and the very fine gentleman I met here just a while ago."

You probably want to know more about this gentleman.

"You probably want to know more about this gentleman," Cornifer says. "Well, I didn't catch a good look at him. Kept in the shadows, he did, no matter what I said to him."

You've come across bugs that have kept in the shadows, haven't you?

"Very interesting bug," Cornifer says. "Shared me his drink and told me all about the creatures that live here." He points to a shapeless mass of ink on the map. "Loodle," he says, very seriously. "Very dangerous. Very bouncy."

There are some empty Gulka pods sitting next to him. There's a chance you noticed them before.

"I've seen quite a few strange creatures on my travels," Cornifer says, shuffling his stack of papers. "What a lovely gentleman, wanted to hear all about them. Wasn't too interested in maps, though."

There are some drawings of creatures on the papers, and a clear deterioration in quality as the stack goes on. These may or may not be Cornifer's drawings.

Cornifer hiccups and plops over.

"No one's ever made a map like this before. What detail! What marriage of separate disciplines to create a mapping experience like no other!"

You might be getting the notion that Cornifer is smashed off his ass.

Maybe you want your Geo back for this falsely-advertised map, but maybe you find it funny enough not to care. Or maybe you're concerned about him. You might be that kind of person.

There's a noise. A fast-moving creature flies straight at you and Cornifer. Whether with luck or with reflexes, you hit it away with your nail.

"Loodle," Cornifer whispers, before falling asleep.

This is probably not a good place for him to be sleeping.

You might be a caring sort of bug who wants to keep Cornifer safe. You also might not be, who knows. But Cornifer's been helpful to you so far, and you decide you're going to get him home.

You poke him a couple of times until he snorts awake.

"Mm? Oh, just resting my eyes," he says. Another monster zips past, and it probably would have hit him if you hadn't hit it first.

Whether or not this thing is a Loodle, you're probably going to call it one from now on.

Cornifer's trying to go back to sleep, but you've taken out your non-terrible map of Dirtmouth. Shaking it in his face seems to keep him awake.

"Hmm, I can see that map needs a guide to the native wildlife," Cornifer says. "Now that I've been awakened to this new, revolutionized kind of map."

You probably don't want him to revolutionize this map. Using large motions, you point to his house there in Dirtmouth. Then you poke him again.

"Oh," Cornifer says. "Home. I suppose that might be a good idea."

Usually no one knows what your ideas are.

Cornifer collects up the papers into his bag (a couple have blown away but you don't tell him), and when he gets up, he's got a hand on your head to steady himself.

You were probably not made for this.

"What a nice little bug you are," Cornifer says as you walk. "Looking out for me like this."

Are you nice? Are you even a bug? You look a lot like one but everyone seems so different from you.

The weight he's putting on you makes it hard to walk straight. You're not sure if he knows what he drank. Then again, you're not entirely sure what it was, either.

At last you make it to the Stagway station (with Cornifer having fiercely whispered LOODLE every time something moved). You set him on the bench and ring the bell.

"Aren't the Stagway tunnels something?" Cornifer says. "And to think they were probably never mapped in the REAL way. Just a line for all your stops, no mind to all the twisting and the turnarounds and all."

You've joined him on the bench. He's falling against you and couldn't possibly be comfortable. You're not.

"Do you know, little bug," Cornifer murmurs, seeming very close to sleeping again (you don't poke him this time but you might be considering it). "If there were maps… if anyone found old maps of Hallownest, before they all stopped living here… I would still be making them myself. Who knows what's changed and what hasn't. Who knows what things no one was allowed to know about."

You don't sit on benches with people very often. You don't sit on benches with people falling against you very often. Cornifer's not at his best, maybe you should lend him a charm to protect him. But maybe you'd be better off not sharing.

The sound of the Stag approaching rumbles through the hall. Cornifer sits up without having been poked.

"Goodness, little bug!" says the Stag when he sees you. "What have you been doing?"

You might not have a good answer for that.

"My little friend has been buying quality maps," Cornifer answers for you. "Can I interest you in one too?"

You look up at the Stag while helping Cornifer off the bench.

"Maps?" chuffs the Stag. "No need for maps in the places I go. Not while I'm working down here."

"A map isn't always a thing you need," Cornifer says, holding your hand as you walk him toward the Stag. "You can enjoy a map just to see the places you've been. If mapping were something I HAD to do," he lets go of your hand to gesticulate and nearly loses balance, "I wouldn't enjoy it at all."

You take back Cornifer's hand.

"All right, then," says the Stag, and he may or may not just be trying to hurry things along. "Where are you heading?"

"All over," Cornifer says. "Every place that's left to go."

You show the Stag your map of Dirtmouth.

The Stag makes a little sound that could be a chuckle. He kneels to the ground for you to get on.

You've probably done things more difficult than helping Cornifer onto the Stag's back. But you're probably not thinking about those things right now, are you?

"I'll advise both of you to hang on very tightly," says the Stag, getting up. He's never said that before.

You're pretty sure he's also never taken you so slowly.

"Did he really charge you four hundred Geo for this map?" Iselda says to you once Cornifer's in bed.

You shrug.

She sighs and pulls something out of a drawer.

"I'm sorry. I don't have four hundred right now."

It's a few pieces of Geo, probably worth about a hundred.

She probably didn't need to do that, but she's holding them out to you, and is it an option to refuse?

You don't.

Iselda sighs and sits down.

"I know he can be enthusiastic about things, but I don't know what's gotten into him this time."

You probably know.

"I'm glad you brought him home," she says. "He shouldn't be out when he's so tired."

He was practically asleep when you walked in the door. He's definitely asleep now.

"I try not to worry about him but… look at him! Sometimes this bug just needs to be worried about."

You've met a lot of bugs that need to be worried about. 

"I hope he didn't cause you too much trouble," Iselda says. 

You've had things cause you trouble before. You'll have things cause you trouble again.

"Would you care for some of these?" Iselda says, showing you a jar of little fruits. "I was just about to have lunch before you came in."

You look into the jar. You don't really have a way to eat these.

And even if you did, you might not like them anyway.


End file.
